A study on the optimal length of actigraphic recording in narcolepsy type 1

OBJECTIVE: The aim of the present study was to assess the optimal length of actigraphic recordings in patients with narcolepsy type 1. METHODS: A secondary analysis was carried out with the previously collected data in eleven patients with narcolepsy type 1. Ten of the 11 patients were medicated at the time of actigraphic recording. Each patient originally wore an Actiwatch AW64 actigraph for at least 28 consecutive days. Overall, the patients were analyzed for 308 nights. RESULTS: No significant differences were observed between the mean values of the 7-day and 14-day analyzed sets for the parameters sleep efficiency, fragmentation index, sleep onset latency, wake after sleep onset, and total sleep time. CONCLUSIONS: Our data suggest that 7 days of actigraphic recording could be sufficient for these patients. SIGNIFICANCE: Our results for the optimal length of actigraphic recording could be useful for both physicians and patients.